Major League Soccer Week 26 Recap and Video Highlights: Columbus beats Houston and Dallas embarasses the Galaxy

It was a busy week in Major League Soccer with a full set of matches starting with a midweek match (KC Wizards at DC United). The Columbus Crew played the Houston Dynamo in a matchup of the top teams in both Conferences which was the marquee match of the weekend. Overall the playoff races are getting closer and closer with only another month left in the regular season. Here’s a recap of Week 26 in Major League Soccer along with video highlights.

Columbus Crew beats Houston Dynamo

The Columbus Crew defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-1 and lead the entire league in points with 42. They have shown they are still one of the top teams in the league after winning last season’s MLS Cup. The Crew started out shaky this season but is now in great shape to make the playoffs as are the Dynamo. These two teams could easily meet in the MLS Cup Finals in November. I may sound like a broken record but Schelotto is still in position for another MVP award if Columbus continues their good form.

FC Dallas embarasses the LA Galaxy

The LA Galaxy have been great in the last few months and moved up to 2nd place in the Western Conference but got embarassed with a 3-6 loss against Dallas on Saturday night. FC Dallas came out aggressive in the match and they were rewarded with a 2-0 lead after only 25 minutes. Fortunately for the Galaxy, Dallas has one of the worst defenses in the entire league, which allowed them back in the match. LA were outplayed the first half but managed to scored on an own goal by FC Dallas and one just before the half to make it 2-2 after 45 minutes.

The second half was an embarassment for the Galaxy as their defense imploded. Dallas scored in the 71st minute to take the lead and from there the floodgates opened. Dallas would scored three more goals within a 4 minute span and the final scored would be 6-3. The win is a setback for the Galaxy who had been strong defensively all season and appeared to be poised to make the playoffs this season. They still are in great shape for that but need to forget about Saturday’s loss.

The Playoff Race

The race for the final playoff spots are very close and teams like Dallas and KC got wins to keep their chances alive. The only teams with no chance are the New York Red Bulls and probably the San Jose Earthquakes (still a slight chance with only 22 games played). There are currently 7 teams within 4 points of each that will be battling for the last few playoff spots. Columbus appears to be the only team safe for a few weeks with 42 points but that all could change.

Video Highlights

Wednesday, September 9
Kansas City Wizards	at D.C. United	DC 1, KC 0		8,033
Saturday, September 12
Colorado Rapids	at Toronto FC	TOR 3, COL 2		20,521
Kansas City Wizards	at New York Red Bulls	KC 1, NY 0		10,234
Seattle Sounders FC	at D.C. United	SEA 2, DC 1		19,592
Chicago Fire	at Real Salt Lake	1-1		17,615
FC Dallas	at Los Angeles Galaxy	DAL 6, LA 3		18,148
Sunday, September 13
New England Revolution	at Chivas USA	CHV 2, NE 0		11,334
Houston Dynamo	at Columbus Crew	CLB 2, HOU 1		14,306

Latest Standings

September 13, 20092009 – Eastern Conference Table
			Overall							Home						Away
RK		TEAM	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA		W	D	L	GS	GA		W	D	L	GS	GA		GD	P
1		Columbus	24	11	9	4	36	26		8	4	0	23	13		3	5	4	13	13		10	42
2		Chicago	25	10	9	6	34	29		4	4	4	11	13		6	5	2	23	16		5	39
3		DC United	26	8	12	6	39	38		6	5	1	17	10		2	7	5	22	28		1	36
4		Toronto FC	25	9	7	9	33	36		7	3	3	18	13		2	4	6	15	23		-3	34
5		New England	23	9	6	8	28	32		6	3	3	20	14		3	3	5	8	18		-4	33
6		Kansas City	24	7	6	11	25	32		3	3	5	11	13		4	3	6	14	19		-7	27
7		New York Red Bulls	25	4	4	17	20	42		4	3	6	18	19		0	1	11	2	23		-22	16

September 13, 20092009 – Western Conference Table
			Overall							Home						Away
RK		TEAM	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA		W	D	L	GS	GA		W	D	L	GS	GA		GD	P
1		Houston	26	11	7	8	32	24		7	4	1	19	10		4	3	7	13	14		8	40
2		Los Angeles	25	9	11	5	31	29		4	4	4	13	17		5	7	1	18	12		2	38
3		Seattle Sounders FC	25	9	10	6	31	24		6	5	2	19	9		3	5	4	12	15		7	37
4		Colorado	24	10	6	8	38	30		8	3	2	23	8		2	3	6	15	22		8	36
5		Chivas USA	23	11	3	9	25	24		8	1	2	18	8		3	2	7	7	16		1	36
6		Real Salt Lake	25	9	7	9	36	28		7	5	1	29	11		2	2	8	7	17		8	34
7		Dallas	24	7	6	11	39	40		5	4	3	22	18		2	2	8	17	22		-1	27
8		San Jose	22	5	5	12	27	40		5	3	4	19	18		0	2	8	8	22		-13	20

Key

RK: Rank, GP: Games Played, W: Wins, D: Draws, L: Losses, GS: Goals Scored, GA: Goals Against, GD: Goal Difference, P: Points

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